Books, Mud and Compost. And Horses.

It took me a while to work out what's going on here, but I've got it now.

and the British dressage team, who won a team silver last night at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. I was working late last night, but finished just in time to see Laura Bechtolsheimer's ride on Mistral Hojris, scoring 82.51% . Not a tail swish in sight - it was quite, quite beautiful. Thank you BBC for showing it. I'll post a video as soon as one pops up on the net.

The visit to the blacksmith's was a helpful plot device for so many pony books; all lost now the farrier comes to you, though there is of course the long wait until the farrier turns up, the sudden dearth of mobile phone contact from said farrier as you wait about, the deep frustration as you finally give up, and then the twilight trek up to the field, armed with threats as you spot someone trudging around there after the horses, only to find it is the farrier, turned up at last. Below is the traditional scene beloved of pony books: and here, because I am on a bit of an old equestrian building mission at the moment, is another smithy: this one is at Carlton-on-Trent, and the picture comes from Riding Magazine, July-Sept 1944. At that time, the occupant was F Naylor, who put up the noticeboard with the verse. F Egerton, who sent in the picture, sent in the text of the verse as well: Gentlemen as you pass by upon this Shoe pray cast an eye; If it be too strait I'll make ...

I always thought when Ann won the Best Dressed Child Rider in Ruby Ferguson's A Stable for Jill that there had been another competitor there with flowing ringlets. Alas, there was not. Flowing green velvet with ostrich feathers yes; Susan Pyke in black and silver hanging on her horse's neck yes, but ringlets no. Never mind. Here's some flowing ringlets: This child was a regular fixture in the advertisements in Riding. Here she is in 1942, and she was still going in 1952. Those ringlets are so very much the antithesis of all that good sense and sensible dressing one was recommended in pony books. I wonder if the child rode, and if she did, how long those ringlets stayed in. I was so delighted by this photograph I had high hopes for the White oeuvre as it developed over the decades, but alas, these more restrained examples are typical of its later output.

I came across the photograph below in a World War II copy of Riding magazine from Jan-March 1943. Riding was then down to 4 issues every year, down from the monthly pre-war issue rate. The war was reflected, however briefly, in much of the correspondence columns. J D Robinson contributed this photograph, which is of a blacksmith's shop at Roxby, North Yorkshire, purely so readers of the magazine could see it - a small break from the pressures of war. Another correspondent in the same issue talked of the importance of being able to have some relaxation so that war work could be carried on - "The Managing Director of a certain aircraft factory puts in a superhuman number of hours on the job... He has turned to the horse now, and relies on this to give him the brief relaxation necessary to enable him to carry on work at such terrific pressure." Looking at this building must have had a little of the same affect. I have never seen anything like it, and my immediate...

I've been reading some of the early animal literature in the Hockliffe Collection , a collection of children's literature which is available on the net. There's rather more about dogs and cats - Mary Martha Sherwood's The Little Woodman and his Dog Caesar (1818), described as being as "thoroughly entertaining and as heavily didactic as it is possible to be," and Mary Pilkington's Marvellous Adventures; or, the Vicissitudes of a Cat (1802) being just two, but there is one about a pony. This is The Memoirs of Dick, the Little Poney (1799 - Anon). Later children's literature about horses, most notably Black Beauty, does not shy away from cruelty, and leaves readers in little doubt about the miseries of the bearing rein or long and hideous hours of over work. It is strangely shy, though, about gelding. Black Beauty must presumably have been gelded - the vast majority of male horses are - but the subject is simply never mentioned. For Black Beau...

Which actually happened yesterday, but which I haven't had chance to load until today. It's a very deceptive photograph this - I did it just to show the mist, and it looks a rural idyll on first sight. However, if you look closely, modern life is certainly present. You can clearly see the two railway lines, and also the mobile phone mast to the left. What you can't see is the A45 thundering away behind the tree line. At least the railway is intermittent. Just up from the picture is the village's old station, now thundered through. Nothing's stopped since Dr Beeching . If the station were still working, my children would have walked past this view every day on their way to the school. As it is, we do a lift share with another family, and have a 10 mile round trip to take the children to our nearest station. The rabbits have made full use of the railway embankment, and there is a huge warren. It has an eerily empty feel about it at the moment. I'...